Author
Jake Liguori
Every year, winter in northern parts of the world brings the same sets of challenges for homes and businesses: waiting for the car to warm up, making sure you have warm clothes, shoveling snow, salting the walkways, and keeping your home warm.
All these things are manageable at a personal level, but what about for a 200-room hotel?
For large-scale commercial properties, there’s a lot more to prepare for than just snow and ice removal—especially since the majority of plumbing catastrophes occur in the winter months. A single burst pipe can lead to tens of thousands of dollars in structural damage alone; not counting the loss of revenue from negative guest reviews and refunds.
The 4-Step Method to Avoid Freeze-Ups
With temperature-related risks in mind, here are the four essential steps we recommend taking to prepare your building’s plumbing for the cold season:
1. Insulate Overlooked Areas
This is a foundational, non-negotiable step. While most internal pipes are protected, many properties overlook or skip insulation on the most vulnerable areas: pipes along exterior walls, on rooftops, in parking garages, and within unheated crawl spaces. The effort required to insulate these pipes is minimal compared to the cost of locating and thawing an ice blockage, all while dealing with shutting down the water supply to the entire building.
2. Tune Up Heaters and Secure Water Temperatures
A reliable heating system is your first line of defense. Schedule a maintenance check on your boilers and HVAC systems before the first deep freeze. A sudden drop in output or a mixing valve failure can send dangerously cold water through your pipes, contributing to freezing conditions system-wide.
How Evolution Can Help: With Symmons Evolution’s temperature sensors, your team is alerted within minutes if water temperatures drop below a critical threshold, enabling you to address the failure before the cold water reaches vulnerable pipes.
3. Don’t Overlook Seasonal Systems (Pools & Irrigation)
With the flurry of winter preparations, it’s easy to forget about your spring and summer fixtures. However, properly draining irrigation and pool lines is absolutely critical for preventing major damage. Always clear these outdoor lines with compressed air (the “blowout” method) to guarantee no trapped or standing water remains to freeze.
4. Guarantee Constant Flow and Circulation
Which freezes first in the winter, a lake or a river? The answer is almost always lake, because the water in a river is constantly moving. The same concept applies to the water in your building. Ensure the couplings, seals, and motor bearings on circulation pumps are inspected.
How Evolution Can Help: See the real-time flow rate of water exiting your circulation pumps with the Symmons Evolution clamp-on flow sensor. This sensor, with its real-time monitoring capabilities, ensures your pump is moving water efficiently, not just spinning its wheels.
Stay Alert, Be Protected
While winterizing your building is essential, not every catastrophe can be prevented. That’s why more than 300 hotels rely on Symmons Evolution. By providing real-time asset monitoring with non-invasive sensors, Evolution drastically improves response times to water-related incidents, offering a critical extra layer of protection to ensure guest comfort and prevent major damage.
To learn more about Evolution’s capabilities, monitoring, and use cases, schedule a demo for more information!
